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About Lily Loring

I live on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, my office is in midtown Manhattan, and and am blessed with a great life. We are "old time" WestSiders, with extended family and lots of community right here in our 'hood. My background is in Fine Art, History and business. Lily Loring is my nom de plume.

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GothamGirl’s Knickerbockers

In 1807, long before Batman or Goths were running around town, Washington Irving wrote about New York City as “Gotham” in his satire Salmagundi, and in his novel, A History of New-York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty, by Diedrich Knickerbocker (1809). He satirized New York City and some of the city’s self-important New Yorkers, and created a ficticious forefather, Father Knickerbocker.

The result?

Many striving New Yorkers of the time and since, claimed to be directly descended from ficticious Father Knickerbocker or from the ficticious author , Dietrich Knickerbocker, as a mark of good breeding and honor.

Also, we have Irving Place, Washington Irving High School, the town of Irvington, many businesses with Gotham or Knickerbocker in their names and the NY Knicks…and the beloved nickname for New York City ….Gotham.

Very soon, GothamGirl will publish actual, contemporary photos of GothamGirl’s Knickerbockers making their way around town.

On May 8, many Rabbis, perhaps 75 in all, gathered at the Merchants Gate of Central Park, at Columbus Circle, to celebrate Israel’s 60th anniversary with Rabbis For Human Rights. This is a busy spot in New York, it is an entrance to Cental Park, with people going to and from work, pedi-cabs waiting for fares, tourists reading maps and sitting on the steps of the monument to the Maine, teens leaving school, lots of foot and vehicle traffic etc.

It was very moving to be there with singer-songwriter Debbie Friedman and Rabbi Simkha Weintraub of the National Center for Jewish Healing as they lead a traditional Mincha (Afternoon) Service, right there in street with the blessed chaos of New York swirling near-by. Passers-by stopped to listen and watch. The rain came and went. Two trees for peace were symbolically planted.

Rabbi Gordon Tucker presented an excellent teaching based on a a commentary on Israel’s Declaration of Independence developed by the RHR Human Rights Yeshiva in Jerusalem. His teaching and the RHR mission is clearly posted on their website.

It stregnthens hope to share this possitive and moving experience with friends, especially during these times which are so full of suffering and violence around the world.